Whaley/Democrat photo
Farmington’s Shane Hill, left, is fouled by Pittsfield’s Tyler Booth during the championship game of the Mike Lee Holiday Basketball Bash Sunday in Farmington.

FARMINGTON — The Farmington High School boys basketball team had a one-point lead with 1:37 to play in the championship game of the Mike Lee Holiday Basketball Bash Sunday.

Unfortunately, Pittsfield hit its 3-pointers and its foul shots to surge past the Tigers and win the tournament title, 70-62.

In the girls final, Kennett made it a three-peat with a 63-36 win over Farmington.

Kevin Poulin, who scored a game-high 23 points, hit two free throws to give the Division III Tigers their last lead at 60-59.

The D-IV Panthers answered with a 3-pointer from Xenthias Cyr to take the lead for good, 62-60. Max Tuttle and Cyr then hit 2 for 2 each from the foul line to make it a 66-60 game with 34.9 seconds to play.

Poulin scored on a putback shot to cut the lead to four and then came up with a steal. Farmington took a timeout with 21.4 seconds to play.

To no avail, however, as their shot to cut the lead even closer went wide.

Pittsfield hit 4 of 4 to salt away the win from the free-throw line. All told the Panthers were 15 of 18 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, including 12 of 14 over the final 2:48.

“We just couldn’t hit a shot,” said Farmington coach John Simmers. “We had a lot of open looks at the end. We did pressure them. They had 31 turnovers, but we had 23 — too many. We caused turnovers, We just didn’t execute when we got the steal.”

The game was back and forth until the final seconds. Farmington led 12-9 after the first quarter and 29-28 at the half.

Pittsfield got a little room to operate with in the third quarter when Kris Perkins scored all 16 of his points, including four 3-pointers, to put his team up, 50-45.

Perkins hit two of those treys in the final 52 seconds to turn a 45-44 Farmington lead into a five-point panther cushion after three stops.

The lead was as much as seven (52-45) early in the fourth, but an 11-3 Tiger run, capped by Austin Healey’s steal and hoop put Farmington up 56-55 with 2:40 to play.

“We take a lot of time in practice to concentrate on foul shots,” said Pittsfield coach Jay Darrah. “It’s a big part of the game. There aren’t too many games we’re going to win by a lot, so foul shots are a big part of our game, fortunately.”

The Farmington girls fell behind 16-0 in the first quarter to D-II Kennett en route to a 63-36 loss in the final.

The D-III Tigers trailed 18-9 after the first quarter and 40-21 at the break.

“They’re a Division II (team) and they’re 3-1 for a reason in Division II,” said Tiger coach Gary Noyes. “When each girl has two or three inches on you at each position, it’s tough to overcome. Plus our lack of guard play at times (hurt us).”

Farmington’s Shannon Cardinal finally scored her team’s first points with a bucket at 3:29 of the first frame, a quarter in which the Tigers struggled breaking Kennett’s fullcourt pressure defense.

McKenzie Lloyd led the Tigers with eight points, Cardinal and Emily Squires added seven each and Kayla Squires threw in six.

Kennett freshman Juliauna Dunlop led all scorers with 15 points, all in the first half. Lauren Kidder added 13 and Jordan Murphy tossed in 11.

Kennett’s Dunlop and Kidder were joined on the all-tournament team by Farmington’s Lloyd and Kelsey Gregoire, and Pittsfield’s Brooke Vien and Sage Anthony.

Nute High School and Kennett’s Lauren White were the respective Betty Vachon Sportsmanship Award winners.